


Roots

by Nadare



Series: Goretober 2019 [2]
Category: Blair Witch (Video Game 2019)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Child Death, Childhood Trauma, Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Goretober, Haunted Houses, Horror, One Shot, Premonition, Prequel, Time Skips, Walks In The Woods, Witch Curses, urban legend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-16 15:08:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20851667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadare/pseuds/Nadare
Summary: The pit of his stomach went cold as they approached the start of the forest path, Ellis having to stop his hands from shaking. He thought this was a bad idea, that they were treading on the edge of some disaster and all it would take would be one false step for things to fall apart.





	Roots

_Prompts: Void, Frozen, Abandoned, Ghost, Curse, Shadow, Tulpa, Urban Legend, Madness, Premonition, and Petrified._

[Written on and off from 9-11-19 to 10-1-19]

* * *

** _“Roots”_ **

“Come on, El, don’t be such a wimp.”

Ellis’ feet on the bike pedals slowed as they approached the Black Hills Forest, though Simon didn’t miss a beat, only stopping once they entered the clearing that marked the entrance.

“I’m not,” Ellis insisted, wanting to assure his older friend that just because he was one year younger didn’t mean he was lacking in courage. “But we’ve been gone a long time already.” They had maybe another two hours of sunlight left before full dark was upon them.

Simon got off his bike, prompting Ellis to do the same. He stared at him with an air of disbelief. “You sure it’s not because you’ve heard the woods are cursed?”

Ellis swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, wishing the forest path was bigger so they could use their bikes. “But even the adults talk about it.”

“Everyone loves a good urban legend, El,” Simon replied with a smirk. “It doesn’t mean any of it is true.” He leaned forward. “Aren’t you curious at all to see what freaks people out so badly in there?”

Taking a deep breath, Ellis nodded, though he had no desire to step foot into the woods that always seemed to be dark and foreboding even in the middle of the day. “Yeah.”

Simon patted him on the back in approval. “Good, let’s go then.” He picked up a medium-sized tree limb that was resting on the ground, testing the tip as if curious if it was sharp enough to make a mark, then started using it as a walking stick.

The pit of his stomach went cold as they approached the start of the path, Ellis having to stop his hands from shaking. He thought this was a bad idea, that they were treading on the edge of some disaster and all it would take would be one false step for things to fall apart.

He glanced at Simon, the person who had protected him from a pair of bullies at school and watched his back ever since, never balking from a challenge. Maybe he was overreacting, letting the reputation of the place get to him.

After all, how frightening could the woods really be?

* * *

They’d been walking for ten minutes or so, Ellis keeping Simon in his eye line until he looked away for just one moment, the space of a half-second, before casting his eyes ahead again to the forest path and finding Simon was gone. The footprints he’d left stopped mid-step, his walking stick lying on the ground. 

“Simon?” Ellis walked to where his friend had been, looking around. He expected to see Simon crouching in a nearby brush or behind a tree, waiting to jump out and scare him, but Ellis couldn’t find any sign of his friend’s bright red hoodie anywhere. “This isn’t funny.”

Nobody answered him in reply.

Trying to keep his cool, Ellis kept walking, thinking perhaps Simon had simply found an alternate path and left Ellis to fend for himself. No, Simon wasn't that cruel. Something must have happened.

When Ellis noticed a large abandoned dilapidated house to the right looming up ahead just behind some trees, he wondered how he hadn't noticed it before.

Judging by the roughshod condition, it looked like it should have fallen down years ago. Dead grey vines covered most of the outside, the windows long since gutted out.

Ellis saw movement out of the corner of his eye and his head automatically followed it, Simon’s clothing familiar as he passed by one of the windows, shortly disappearing into the depths of the house. Ellis’ heart skipped a beat at Simon’s sudden reappearance, mostly just relieved he was all right.

But it also meant Simon had been playing around the whole time, watching Ellis go out of his mind with worry. A thread of anger blossomed in him and Ellis frowned, starting to march towards the house.

He’d had enough of this. It was one thing to rib on Ellis good-naturedly in the name of friendship, but outright harsh pranks that left him wandering the woods for the better part of two hours were going too far.

“Simon, I want to go home. Stop playing around.”

Ellis grabbed the doorknob of the front door and swung it open, the battered interior of dark hallways and graffiti-strewn walls adding to his sense of dread. He took a few steps inside, gasping as the door slammed shut behind him.

He immediately whirled around and tried the doorknob, which refused to move no matter how hard he turned it. Ellis didn’t believe in ghosts, but for the first time he thought maybe Simon hadn’t wandered away on his own.

The reputation of the haunted woods was well-founded. There was something in the woods. Some force that had spirited away his friend. It was up to Ellis to rescue him. 

Puffing out his chest, Ellis started forward, gradually weaving his way through the first floor of the house, sick to his stomach the whole time. Tiny black handprints decorated some areas of the house like macabre wallpaper, testaments to the forest’s dark history.

Though the surroundings had been alive with animal noises, as soon as Ellis had entered the house, it had gone eerily quiet, even his footsteps making no sound. Forcing himself to continue onward, Ellis turned a corner and stopped, approaching what looked to be the entrance to a basement.

“That you, El?”

Hope seized Ellis at the sound of Simon’s voice, as well as the light he could see further down into the basement. He slowly descended the stairs. “About time you got here.”

“What’s the big idea scaring me like this? I’ve been…”

Ellis’ breath caught at the sight laid out in front of him. 

His friend Simon was hanging by the neck from a wooden beam in the ceiling overhead. His gut and limbs were twisted and bloated, making him appear larger than he really was. Thick black liquid dripped from his nose and mouth. The smell of death was thick and cloying, sticking to the inside of Ellis' nose and throat.

Simon looked like he'd been hanging there for weeks when he'd only been missing for a few hours. Tears gathered in Ellis’ eyes as he sank to his knees, wanting to look away but unable to make himself.

It was impossible. Hadn’t Simon just been talking to him? 

Sudden movement behind him had Ellis scramble to his feet, but before he could go more than a couple of steps, a pair of spindly arms that felt impossibly long embraced him tightly from behind, sharp fingernails digging into his arms and chest, drawing blood.

Stricken with fear and panic, Ellis froze, the blood in his veins going cold as he was pulled against dry coarse fur, the creature’s hold unyielding. It smelled rank and musty like a sick animal that had been caught in the rain overnight. 

“My.” The female voice was long and slow, sounding right next to Ellis' ear, moving closer as it continued speaking, arms constricting around him possessively. A cricking sound accompanied every breath the thing took, echoing in the confines of the dark basement. “Ellis.”

Wetness pressed against one of his cheeks and Ellis whimpered, the icy pair of lips confirming whatever had him in its grip couldn't be human.

How did it know his name?

“I’ve waited so long for you.”

Ellis quivered, getting slightly dizzy from being bound so hard, his clenched shut eyes beginning to slowly open of their own free will. If this was how he was going to die, Ellis at least wanted to see his attacker.

“No!”

The inhuman shriek deafened himself for a moment, Ellis starting in shock as a dirty long-fingered hand shoved itself over his eyes firmly. He felt the creature pick him up effortlessly, a rush of air hitting his skin, Ellis assuming they were moving back up through the corridors of the house at a swift pace.

His heart hammering away, fearing the worst as the creature’s hand dropped from his eyes, Ellis was surprised to find they were standing at the front door of the house which stood open, locked no more.

There was an air of reluctance in whatever held him tight as it began to release him, one more bone-chilling kiss being delivered to the back of his neck. The area burned intensely for one moment, Ellis biting his lower lip to deal with the pain. “Come back soon, my…carver.”

An image of an aged man’s face caked in dark mud flashed in his mind, then disappeared.

Ellis was thrown out the door, which slammed shut behind him with a finality and force that was enough to break him of his paralysis, sending him running with no clear direction, any coherent thought beyond him. He was working on pure undiluted fear, the desire to escape Ellis’ sole thought.

The main path, he had to find it.

He wiped at his cheek where he’d been kissed with the back of his hand over and over, feeling like it would never get clean again. His arms and midsection hurt from where they'd been held, Ellis barely paying any attention to his surroundings.

Ellis ran until his chest felt like it would burst, his feet sore at the endless path he trod. He tripped and almost fell into the river when he came across it.

He couldn’t get the image of Simon’s body out of his mind.

On the wind came a nearly unintelligible whisper, seeming to echo within Ellis' head. He only caught one word. _“Forget.”_

Instead of worrying about the source of the eerie voice, a film of darkness pulled itself over his mind. Recent memories went black and inaccessible, forcefully shut down by an outside power.

Soon, Ellis slowed down to a walk, not sure why he'd been in such a hurry before.

He had no idea how long it took to find an exit, just that he was beyond relieved when he finally came upon the clearing where he and Simon had parked their bikes.

Ellis started forward past the edge of the forest and stepped-

Right into a freezing black night where heavy driving rain soaked him to the bone in seconds. Ellis flinched as someone gasped nearby and rushed forward, throwing their arms around him.

“Oh, thank god,” a familiar voice said, the face of his mom a welcome sight as she sat back, though she was crying freely, the heavy rainfall making it hard to tell at first. “Ellis.”

She examined him, gently inspecting his fingers, the tips of which were white and tingly. Ellis’ teeth chattered as his mom took a raincoat from someone in a police uniform. She laid it over his head and shoulders, covering most of his back as well. “Come with me, sweetie.” 

His mom led him to the back of an ambulance parked nearby, closing the doors behind them as soon as he’d taken a seat. The rush of heat surrounding Ellis was painful at first, his mom massaging his fingers gently until they stopped aching.

“We've been looking for you for two days,” she said, spreading a warm towel on his lap.

Days? Ellis was sure he’d only been gone a few hours.

“Where's Dad?”

“Off with one of the search parties. He'll be back soon,” his mom said, her brow knitting when Ellis grunted in pain as she rubbed another towel over the back of his neck. “Turn to the side for me, Ellis.”

Her fingers gently prodded the area upon removing the towel, Ellis groaning as she brushed against a sensitive area. “Honey, there's a burn mark here. Almost like a brand. When did you run into anything that hot?”

Ellis shrugged off her touch, shaking his head. “I don't know.”

One of the ambulance doors opened, a rough-looking cop poking his head in briefly. “We need to talk to him before you head to the hospital.”

His mom pursed her lips, then moved to the side of the ambulance in silent permission, giving the cop space to come sit next to him.

The man leaned forwards towards Ellis, the cap on his head dripping water. “Hello, Ellis, I'm Sheriff Grant. I know you’re not feeling the best right now, son, but you need to tell us where Simon Lee is.”

It took a few times for Ellis to gather his voice, straining to remember where he’d last seen his friend. The bike ride to the woods was clear, as well as Ellis’ reluctance to enter them.

After that, there was nothing but a deep gaping hole in his memory.

“I think he left before me,” Ellis answered quietly, not sure why those words sent a shiver down his spine or made his stomach cramp up so much.

“Then why is his bike still here?” Grant countered sternly. “A lot of people have put time and effort into this search. I need more, Ellis.” He sounded tired and frustrated.

“Sheriff, please,” his mom said pleadingly. “If that's all he can remember, pressing him will only make things worse.”

Grant sat back, letting out a sigh. “All right, but if he remembers anything else, call me.” Ellis' mom took the business card the sheriff handed her with a nod.

“Will do.”

Once Ellis and his mom were alone again, she hugged him close and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I'm sure they'll find Simon. It's only a matter of time.”

Despite the comforting embrace of his mom’s arms, somewhere deep inside Ellis he knew something terrible had happened to his friend. He'd never be going home again.

As for Ellis, though he didn't know it, he'd set something in motion that would come back to haunt him in the worst way possible years down the line.

Even though the authorities and townspeople searched high and low, nobody ever laid eyes on Simon again. He became yet another victim of the supposed Blair Witch while officially everyone insisted he'd more than likely run away from home.

However, Simon wouldn't be the last child to disappear in the forest. There'd be more to come and one would eventually lure Ellis back where he swore he'd never set foot again.


End file.
